Full Circle

It’s kind of funny that one of the most perfect post-punk albums should be two-thirds made by Germans a full generation older than the punks. Only after his stint with Public Image Ltd, Jah Wobble hooked up with Czukay and Liebezeit of the mighty Can — and their sonic skills proved almost implausibly compatible. Czukay’s tape and reverb manipulation and multi-instrumental licks worked perfectly in the dub idiom, and Liebezeit’s ticking drums were uniquely adaptable to the Jamaican rhythms too and locked in perfectly to Wobble’s monumental basslines. The big draw here is “How Much Are They?” which became an underground club hit, but every other track here matches it for brain-warping quality and lasting futurity.